Gao Hongzhi, municipal party secretary of Handan city in China’s Hebei Province, has stated that in the 2012-18 period Handan city eliminated 17.83 million mt of iron-smelting capacity and 13.93 million mt of crude steel capacity. He added that Handan city will eliminate 11.034 million mt of iron and steel capacity in the 2019-20 period. By the end of 2020, Handan will have eliminated 40 percent of its iron and steel capacity compared to the beginning of 2013.
Handan city is a major industrial base in China. Zhang Weiliang, the mayor of Handan, stated that the local economy has developed rapidly relying on its rich steel and coal resources. However, Zhang indicated that the resource-based economic development has resulted in obvious contradictions and disadvantages, especially for the environment.
Accordingly, Handan set targets for those steel enterprises whose emissions were below standard. Moreover, Handan city has cut the number of its steel enterprises from 35 to 17, and will lower this number further to eight by 2020, thereby integrating superior resources in the steel industry and ensuring emissions standards are met.